Dean Koontz spins a horror story that does not require a dog to save the world!

The poor (well, not too poor) residents of an old building encounter odd goings on. Are they hallucinating when the building appears to change? Have alien beings descended? Are those other-worldly ghosts or tricks of the mind?

77 Shadow Street is a book for the masses and will likely shovel in quite a few new Koontz readers. The book seems reminiscent of another Koontz titled The Taking but it is certainly not a re-hash. Sadly though, I kept comparing 77 Shadow to The Taking and it started getting on my nerves because so many strange things happen in this book that were just enough alike for me to keep doing a comparison.

Likely Koontz wanted people to be more scared and unnerved by the goings-on in the building and while I did get that eery claustrophobic feeling a few times it did not scare me as much as I would have liked.

Peter Berkrot read for the audiobook and was not the right choice as he did not bring that sense of forboding required to bring 77 Shadow Street to life. This is one of those books where I wonder "If I read it would I like it more?". Likely I would have liked it more but it's too late now.

If you are a Dean Koontz fan, you will like it. It has all the trimmings with unique characters, some fun evil people, a fast-paced storyline and a very unique plot. Trixie fans will still like the book with the lack of dogs since the cats are naturally quite evil, proving Labrador Retrievers are still the best companion when all hell is breaking loose.

I'm admittedly, a huge Koontz fan, readily downloading his latest books as soon as they're available. 77 Shadow Street, however, fails to live up to his normal edge of your seat style. There are far too many characters, a strange scientific twist that's all too reminiscent of Michael Crichton's "Prey" and in the end, the book labors over description with far too much detail.

Sure, it's got some great lines and the normal Koontz morality about good and evil. Sadly missing was a canine protagonist. All in all, fairly disappointing. Sorry Dean!

I was disappointed. I usually rave about Dean Koontz but this book didn’t “do it” for me. It was okay. It’s worth listening to as long as you don’t have the expectation that it will be as good as some of Koontz’s previous books.

There was no problem with his performance. The problem lies with the story.

What character would you cut from 77 Shadow Street?

The One,

Any additional comments?

How many times can mold, mildew, fungi be described before the only emotion left is one of repulsion. It's hard to believe that anyone would find this story remotely scary. Dean Koontz should stick to wraiths and the spiritual realm rather than depicting monsters and ghouls. The only redeeming features are the experience through a child's eyes and the final chapter with its benign insanity.

This book was so boring that I could not finish it. Usually, Koontz's books, although not amazing books (except for a few select titles), are still fun to read and often really funny. Not this one. After about two hours, I decided that I have beeter things to do with my limited time. Disappointing!